Here’s how to look more fashionable on Instagram

by Kendall Jenner is one of the masters of looking fashionable on Instagram | Image credit: Kendall Jenner / Instagram

Over the past few years Instagram has turned into one of the most popular online places to share your fashion ideas. So how to be fashionable on Instagram?

Researchers from the University of Toronto in parthership with Spain’s Institut de Robotica i Informatica Industrial have created an algorithm which can determine how fashionable people look in a photo and then can even suggest ways to improve their looks, Tech Times reports.

Our aim here is to give a rich feedback to the user: not only whether the photograph is appealing or not, but also to make suggestions of what clothing or even the scenery the user could change in order to improve her/his look,” the authors wrote in a paper detailing the algorithm.

In order to create the algorithm, the researchers took 144 169 user posts from the social network Chictopia from the period of March 2, 2008 all the way to May 22, 2014. There the fashionability of each picture was determined by other users who voted and their comments under the photos.

That was also used in the algorithm but mainly as reference. In fact it takes several factors into account including what the user is wearing, what he or she looks like, what is the background of the photo and even the geographic location if that data is available. The algorithm can say which is the least fitting outfit, which outfit is suitable for which place and what other items would look good on the user.

The researchers also used this data to analyze fashion trends over time in Manila in the Philippines and in Los Angeles. For instance, the popularity of high heels globally has skyrocketed over the past few years, while it has actually been on the decline among users in L.A. So this algorithm could potentially be used by companies, fashion designers and tastemakers to stay ahead of the curve and possibly determine what the next big trends will be, the Tech Times notes.

“People want to look good; business or casual, elegant or sporty, sexy but not slutty, and of course trendy, particularly so when putting their picture online,” the researchers explained to Mashable.

If you are up for some science and get some more insights here is the full research paper which has quite a lot of interesting details including what types of outfits and colors are prefered in different countries around the world. You can even read about some of the best outfits and estimated trends. So who says high heels are just for bimbos? Here’s some science that goes pretty well with them, too.